by Cox, Paula
“I can stand by your side through this,” he swore.
The sound of his voice melted her heart, and she curled into his chest as he pulled her closer and kissed her hair. “I… I was going to spin it like a lost weekend,” she murmured.
“A little more than a weekend, Lily,” Michael teased.
“I know,” she said. “So much more.”
He kissed her again, and Lily sighed at the feel of his tongue swirling around hers. Darting around and across her flesh, Michael spun away from her mouth and stared into her eyes.
“Everything,” he said. “Maybe you can walk away from it. But I can’t.”
Lily welcomed the return of his kiss, and as her arms swirled around his back, she tried to tell herself that he could follow, that she could bring him home and link her life to his. But she pushed back and shook her head.
“It’ll only mean more trouble,” she said sadly. “Just let me take my medicine.”
Michael held her hand tight as he kept her where she stood. “Only with me,” he said. “How can I not come with you now?”
Glancing over the side of the road, the smoke finally starting to fade, Lily lamented the fact that she had no wheels to put her plan into action. But she still had her legs.
“I can make it on my own,” she said. “Please, Michael.”
He let her go, and she started to run. If the Mad Angels found her now, she would have no way of speeding past them. But she could always duck for cover and hide. It felt like her only choice, and her feet moved faster under her body when the sound of his motor revving up to a place that promised full speed caused her to turn her head over her shoulder. Michael was advancing on her, and she kept her eyes on him as she pressed her palms to the air and brought him to a stop.
“Michael,” she cautioned. “Go back.”
Kicking away from his bike, he caught Lily before she could run and pulled her close to his chest. “I can’t leave you now,” he said as she struggled against him.
“It won’t work if you come!” she challenged. “I need to keep you a secret. I—”
“Don’t be ashamed of me, Lily.”
“I’m not!” she cried.
Falling into his arms, Lily let him hold her and sighed into his chest. Could they just stay like this and live on this patch of earth and never worry about whatever might still lurk in the shadows? Lifting her face to his, she felt Michael’s hands moving down her face, and he brought his lips close to hers.
“Tell me the truth,” he said. “Do you really want to go this alone?”
Even as Lily’s lips curled into her smile, tears filled her eyes, and she shook her head over her chest. “No,” she whispered. “But I don’t want you hurt. I want you safe.”
“Will you feel safe if I leave you now?” he challenged.
Lily choked back a sob and wiped her eyes with the back of her hands. “No,” she said. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
“Sounds like a fucking ringing endorsement,” Michael said. “Get up here.”
Michael lifted her into his arms and pressed her body to his bike. Sitting behind her, he reached past her for the handlebars and kissed her tense neck.
“Michael, I—”
“Spin the story however you have to,” he said. “I’ll play along. And I’ll be with you for the ride.”
Lily tried to pull away from him when he kept her close, his lips at her ear as he whispered softly. “I’ve lost you too many times to count,” he said. “Not again. Let me come with you.”
Struck by the slight question in his voice, Lily felt as if she couldn’t let him go. Not when he was so close and wanting to keep closer. Would this really work? Could she see her mother again and still feel his hand in hers?
“Michael…”
He kept quiet as he stroked her face and brought his lips to hers. Lingering in his tender kiss, she parted from him wanting more, but his eyes didn’t move from hers, his hold around her fingers intensified.
“You… you really want to try to do this with me?” she asked.
“I’m not scared, Lily. You don’t have to be either.”
She rested her head against his shoulder and stayed silent as he raced deeper into the morning, the wind sweeping over them as he drove faster. Every few seconds, Lily’s eyes darted across the sands, her body shuddering at the thought that Noel and his boys could be on them at any second. No sight of them, and Michael held her tighter as he sped away from the desert and neared a sleepy hamlet just starting to wake from its slumber. After so much time hidden in among the sands, she should take some comfort at a return to normalcy, but his was no longer the life that she knew, a life that she barely remembered. As they neared a hole in the wall that served as the town’s police, Lily grabbed his arms and shook her head against his chest.
“You should let me off here,” she said. “Go back and get the others away.”
“Not a chance.”
Kissing her quickly, Michael brought his bike to a stop and eased her feet to the ground. Trying to steady her stance, Michael pushed her closer and brushed the strands of hair from her face.
“I’m coming in with you,” he said. “No way am I thinking about running now.”
She smiled and into his chest and let him caress her neck. “You gonna stay where I can keep an eye on you?” she asked.
“That’s the idea,” he said. “Let’s go.”
Pulling the door open, Lily and Michael stepped into a wooden walled room littered with billboards covered in sketches and photos of the most wanted and the missing. Lily saw her own image, her graduation photo, Dan at her side. Turning away from the image, she gripped Michael’s arm tighter and approached the main desk.
The woman barely glanced up from her head of frizzy blonde locks and her word jumble. “What can I do for you?”
Looking to Michael for reassurance, Lily saw him give her a quick nod and kissed her temple.
“I’m here,” he promised. “You can do it.”
Steeling her body for the struggle ahead, Lily pressed her palms back to the desk. Slapping the game away from the woman’s hands, she gave her no choice but to look into her eyes and took a deep breath.
“My name is Lily Nielsen,” she started. “And I… think that someone’s looking for me.”
The woman dropped her pencil as Michael stepped closer to her side. As he held her, the blonde pushed a button and called for reinforcements.
“Sheriff Nick? Officer Bates? There’s someone here that I think you’ll want to see.”
CHAPTER THIRTY TWO Sitting in an interrogation room with mirrors for windows, Lily held Michael’s hand tighter and gazed into his eyes.
“I’m scared,” she said. “We shouldn’t have done this.”
“It’s going to be alright,” he promised her. “And I’m right here.”
“You don’t wish you had stayed back with the others?”
Michael stayed quiet, and Lily started to shift in her seat when he kissed her quickly and stroked her cheek.
“Not a chance,” he said. “No place else I’d rather be.”
Lily hesitated before believing him, and Michael took her into his arms and whispered into her ear.
“I got you,” he promised. “And we’ll make it work.”
Gazing into his eyes, Lily tried to tell herself hat his words were true, and she sat with his hand in hers as the door pushed open a mismatched pair entered the room.
“Well, well, well. What have we got here?”
The younger of the pair with dark skin and a lighter uniform pounded his fist to the table before sitting opposite them and pressing his fingers together. Even as Lily stayed closer to Michael, she feared the man slapping papers on the table. At least the older man, wearing a simple suit, gave her a kind smile and as he stepped into the shadows. If she was going to trust one of them, then he would be the one. But it was the other man’s show, and Lily had no choice but to meet his dark eyes as he had laid out the entire timeline of he
r absence from so-called civilization under a series of cold questions.
“Lily Nielsen,” he started. “Went missing two months ago. No contact with family or friends.”
“We know the story, Nick,” the older guy said as he tapped his shoulder. Nick shrugged him off and glared at Michael as he continued to speak.
“And now here you are. Sort of like a miracle.”
Lily blushed and started to give her version of events when Nick stretched to his full length and glared at Michael.
“And who the hell are you?” Nick challenged.
Michael looked to Lily, and she thanked him with a quick squeeze of his hand.
This is still my show. And I can make it work.
“My… my friend,” Lily said as she pulled Michael closer and peered into Nick’s eyes. “He helped me get back. And I—”
“If I buy that, then I’ve seen it all.”
Nick pushed his papers aside and nearly flew across the table as he leered into Michael’s eyes. “What’s your deal?” he challenged. “Keep her away from the people that only want her back and bring her back to the land of the living when you can get some green for your crime?”
Lily started to shake her head when Michael let go of her hand and stretched to his feet.
“I’m here for her.” he spat. “And I never—”
“Aren’t you Michael Roberson?” Nick flipped one page over before he spoke and reached across the table for Michael’s collar before Lily knew what was happening.
“Leave him alone!” Lily screamed.
She was nearly on her feet when Michael pushed her back to her chair. Wincing in the wake of his action, she tried to stand again when he shot her a cold glare and shook his head.
“I saw that,” Nick spat. “Want to keep her from telling us the whole story?”
Looking to the older man, Nick’s eyes flashed and his partner or whatever held back as Nick grabbed Michael by his neck and started to push his body to the ground. Lily gasped and brought her hands to her mouth as Michael collapsed at her feet. Their eyes locked for all of a second, and Michael tried to smile when Nick crushed his fist to his chest and drove the breath from his lungs.
“Stop it! Stop it! Don’t hurt him!” Lily pleaded as she tried to pull Nick away. If she could just talk to him, make him understand what had happened, she could tell her story and get Michael’s hand back in hers.
“Miss,” Nick started, “I see this kind of thing all the time. Prick took you and your car. Sold the latter, and god knows what he did to you.”
Frantically shaking her head from side to side, she spoke quickly as she continued trying to touch Michael, longing to wipe away the tension expanding about his back as he remained doubled over in agony.
“It wasn’t like that!” Lily insisted.
“And now he hears that there’s a reward for your safe return,” Nick continued. “So he wants a piece of that action.”
Nick gripped Michael by the scruff of his neck, and the cop forced the biker’s contorted face to his eyes.
“How’d you pull it off?” Nick demanded as she slapped Michael’s cheek and pressed the heel of his shoe into Michael’s foot. “Tell her to play nice or you’d sic some of your scum on her family? The people that really care about her?”
A thin stream of blood left Michael’s lips, and he licked it away with a smirk and a groan as Nick pushed him into the corner. Standing up straighter, Michael turned his gaze to Lily and smiled weakly as his breath heaved in his chest.
“Think I don’t?” Michael managed, his words for the cop even as his eyes stayed on Lily trembling just a few feet away from him. Again Lily tried to move forward, her only thought to place her body between him and Nick.
He won’t hit me. He’ll have to listen—
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Nick said as he grabbed Michael again and shoved him to his knees, striking him again.
Lily gasped when Michael summoned the strength to fight back. Winding his arms around Nick’s legs, the cop lost his footing and nearly stumbled backwards into the table when Bates whipped out a pair of handcuffs. In one smooth, swift move, he pushed Michael back to the wall.
“No! Lily protested as Nick recovered and she tried to pry Bates away from Michael’s side. Despite his apparent age, she was no match for Bates. Losing the battle before it even started, Lily turned her head to the sight and the sound of other uniforms entering the room.
“Let’s put this prick on ice.” Nick ordered as Bates pushed Michael’s crumpled form into the arms of the other officers. Lily screamed as Michael was led away, but Bates’s hands on her shoulder kept her feet locked on the place where she stood even as her arms flailed wildly.
“Dumb move, Roberson,” Nick spat. “But who knows? Maybe you’ll talk if we promise to go easy on you.”
Again he drove his fist into Michael’s back, and Lily felt as if her heart tore in the two as he winced and moaned.
“But not too easy,” Nick threatened. “About time someone put you assholes in their place. Or at least get a mole.”
As soon as Michael was gone and the door slammed shut, Lily felt Bates push her into one of the abandoned chairs. The older man fell to his knees and took her hand even as she continued to struggle.
“Calm down, little girl,” he said in a soothing tone.
“No.” Lily protested. “You guys have it all wrong!”
“Shhh,” he soothed. “Easy now. I know how horrible it must have been for you. Being taken by a man like—”
“Will someone just listen to me?” Lily cried as she threw her head back and pressed her palms to her flushed cheeks. “He didn’t take me. Not at first, I—”
Slapping her hand over her mouth, Lily fell silent in fear. She had said too much, and without wanting to, these men who were sworn to serve and protect could easily spin her words, twist them into a series of sharp nails that would close Michael’s coffin.
“Sounds like a story,” Bates said as he pulled one of the other chairs to her side and sat slowly. His mouth curled into a soft smile, his wrinkles seeming to expand across his leathery face as he patted her knee gently.
“Okay, Miss Nielsen,” he started. “Just you and me right now. Let’s say you give me your version of events.”
“And… and then you’ll let Michael go?” she asked, her heart fluttering at the prospect that he would be free and that she would be able to hold him again.
“Can’t promise you anything,” Bates admitted. “To hear Nick tell it, Michael’s been known to stir up some shit in his time. Rides with a rough crew.”
Rough? No. That was the wrong word. Fierce was better, loyal to their own code above all else. Nick could beat Michael until he was bloody, and she knew that Michael would never give him a name let alone a location where his boys could be found and captured like animals in need of cages.
And Lily wouldn’t play that game either.
“I… I don’t know anything about that,” Lily lied. “He never hurt me. You don’t believe me?”
Bates’s tongued curled around the inside of is cheek, and she sat on the edge of her seat, her heart in her throat as she hoped, prayed, that he would accept her version of events.
“I’d like to Miss Nielsen,” he said. “But you got to admit, there’s a lot of gaps to fill in.”
“I know,” Lily muttered under her breath.
“Like if it’s all so innocent, why wouldn’t you just call your family and let them know where you were.”
She was on the verge of spinning the story of her wanderlust just desperate for adventure. Sure it was selfish and made her look like a monster. Lily would take the brand if it just meant that—
“Do you have any idea what this did to them?”
Lily started to speak again when Bates pulled his phone from his pocket. Swiping the screen to life, he brought up a video feed and forced the moving images to Lily’s eyes. There, in the home of her childhood, she saw her parents sit
ting side by side. Craig Nielsen seethed as Corinne kept her eyes on her feet. The sight of her mother’s tear-stained face tugged at Lily’s soul. And yet she thought she saw a slight smile on her lips as Dan, sitting tall and stony-faced at her mother’s other side, pled into an unseen camera.
Lily, if you can hear this, if you can hear me, we just want to know where you are. And if… if someone has you, then… then just try to—
If someone had my daughter, I will hunt them down and show no mercy.
